


Mnemonics

by omphale23



Category: due South
Genre: Gen, Snippets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-14
Updated: 2010-03-14
Packaged: 2017-10-08 00:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omphale23/pseuds/omphale23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>When Fraser's grandparents took him in, he taught himself to memorize his favorite nursery rhymes, stories, poems, eventually whole books. Just in case he lost everything again.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Mnemonics

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Forty things Ray knows about Fraser](https://archiveofourown.org/works/70708) by [omphale23](https://archiveofourown.org/users/omphale23/pseuds/omphale23). 



His grandfather's only stories were things like "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," meant to teach a lesson that Benton never quite understood well enough. He learned sacrifice, choosing responsibility over the longings of a moment, but he never managed to hope for duty only.

His grandmother didn't know any of Benton's favorite nursery rhymes. She only told poems, although Benton spent most days in the cold. He didn't need someone to tell him about numb fingers and lashes freezing, or the sight of a uniform walking away.

But Benton's earliest memories are of stories, tales of Greeks and gifts, monsters and madness. He remembers his mother's voice, how it sounded different in French, more lonely.

He started reading to try and keep her close, to remind himself of her voice washing over him in the dark. He never could find written words that sounded right, not even when he was sure they told the same stories. And by the time his grandparents settled down, so he could start high school and his grandfather would be near a doctor, Benton had stopped looking. He read histories and grammar, biographies and science. He didn't search for tales of heroes, not in any language.


End file.
